Repairs to Trenton Central High School should be completed by end of 2014

A file photo of a damaged ceiling in the culinary arts room at Trenton Central High School in TrentonCie Stroud/For The Times

TRENTON — A state-issued timeline mapping out renovations at Trenton Central High School indicates the school’s dilapidated exterior, including its leaky roof, should be repaired by the end of 2014.

But the district says it can’t wait that long.

“The conditions at the high school must be addressed immediately,” Dwayne Mosley, district director of facilities construction, said last night at a special school board meeting. “If we don’t act immediately, there’s a possibility that our students and staff will come into harm’s way.”

The state School Development Authority released the timeline last month after three local politicians requested it in January, saying the conditions of the school couldn’t be ignored any longer.

The SDA has promised to devote $13.3 million to 18 urgent repair projects at the 80-year-old high school, but the district hasn’t seen that money yet.

As a result, the district may have to set aside some money in its strained budget for school repairs, Mosley said.

“We are already starting work on the worst parts of the building,” Mosley said. “We can’t wait for them, so we, meaning the district, have to move forward.”

Parts of the high school’s roof were badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy, and the school suffers ongoing problems with leaking, asbestos, mold and ventilation.

Taiwanda Terry-Wilson, a member of the Better Plan for Trenton High School group, said the SDA has so far been unwilling to devote the necessary amount of work to repairing the high school.

“We’ve been fighting this fight since 1998,” Terry-Wilson said. “A timeline of two years is unacceptable.”

Many of the renovation projects listed on that timeline have already been completed, Terry-Wilson said.

She said she sees the document as little more than a stall tactic.

“It’s an appearance that something will be done,” she said.

She said she plans to gather a contingent of concerned parents to attend the next SDA meeting in April to try to put pressure on the authority.

For now, the district will begin tackling repairs on the most damaged parts of the roof, one section at a time, Mosley said.

“We only have a certain amount of money, so we’re trying to address it in small sections until the SDA tells us how they’re going to move forward with repairs,” Mosley said. “We can’t allow our students and staff to continue to work in an area where there’s imminent danger.”